Basket-ball and similar playing-ball.



.TAMEs L. BEEBOUT, or CANTON, 'onto'.

`insular-191mm AND smmAnlrLA'YnvG-BALL specification; of Letters ratent.

Application inea Februarir 7, 1916. sex-iam. 16,532.

l To all whom it may concern.;

Be it known that I, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canton,in the county of Stark and State of Ohio,

which .the-following is a specification.

This invention relates to the casings of basket balls and similarplaying balls made of sections of leather sewn together and providedwith an inflatable bladder and has more especial reference to the'construction of the lining provided .within the leather casing oftheball.

i a ball lined ,with fabric in the manner generally in use .-at presentwill not, expand l" evenly when the rubber bladder contained In the useof basketlballs,`foot balls, strik# ing bags and the like, the rules ofthe games require the balls to be of a certain size and `shape and atthe 'same time they must retainV Y their resiliencjr and must not exceeda certain weight.

It is, of course, generally understood that different pieces of leather,even when taken from the saine hide, do not stretch' evenly and-for thisreason the usual manner of constructing balls of this character is to`provide a lining of duck, drill -or other fabric upon the inner side ofthe leather casing; Any one acquainted with the manufacture andconstruction of fabrics of this char acter is of course. aware of thefact that the woof threads of the fabric will stretch to a greaterdegree than the warp threads, thus therein is inflated.

. The object of this invention'is to remedy the fault and -to soconstruct the liningof the balls that when inflated they will retaintheir proper shape and size.

The object of this invention is attained by lining each section ofleather, of which the casing of the ball is composed, with'two layers offabric, preferably placed in such a position with relation to each otherthat the warpk threads of one layer are located vat right angles tothewarp threads ofthe other layer;A A

With these objects in view the invention consists in the novelconstruction and ar rzngement of parts, hereinafter described,

.illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understoodthatvarious` changes 1n the form, proportions, size and minor details-ofconstruction may be made J AMES' L. BEEBOUT, y

have invenlted a new and useful Basket-Ball and Similar Playing-Ball,off

within -the scope of the appended claims,r

without departing from the spirit or sacriiicing any ofthe advantagesof'the invention.

In the accompanyingdrawingz Figure. 1 s howsa perspective view of abasket ball ratentea June 13,1916. i

constructed in laccordancewith my inven- `tion, a portionof the 'casingbeing broken away for the purpose of illustration. Fig. 2 'is a' planview of one of the sections of .leather which form the casing. Fig. 3-is a plan viewof one of the .sections of fabric which is placed next tothe leather. .Figs.

Il and 5 are plan views of the two sections offabric which form' theouter layer. Fig. 6 is a' plan view of a portion of one of theleather'sections upon which. the two layersy of lining havebeen placed,a portion of the outer llayer' being' turned back to show the innerlayer. Fig. .7' is a sectional view on a large scaleupon the line 7-7,"Fig. 6.'

Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing the mannerof connecting the edges oftwoadjacent sections. Similar numerals ,of reference indicatecorresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

In the accompanylng drawing, a basket ball "has been illustrated, but itwill ofcourse -be understood Vthatthis construction `is equally welladapted. to footballs, striking balls or similar articles.

The numeral l indicates one of the leather sections, four of which areused in the construction bf 'a basket ball, 4such 'as shown in Fig. 1.Two sectlons of fabric such as indicated by the numeral 2, each of saidsections4 being of a size and shape to cover one-half of the section 1,are placed upon the inner face of each of the sections of leather, be-

Ving preferably attached thereto by cement orother suitable means, thuscompletelycoveringthe inner face of the leather section, -the edgesbeing preferably trimmed flush with the edges of the leather. The fabricsections 3 and '4 are then placed one upon each of the sections 2 andare preferably cemented thereto. The reduced neck portlon 5 of thesection 4 is lapped over'the reduced portion 6 of the section 3 andaslech of these outer sectios of lining-isof greater width than theleather or inner 'sections of lining, the overhanging edgesaeturq'ed'inwardly and-cemented upon the face'of. the

fabric forming seams 7. Tlie sections 4 .arev

0 ortions 5 for the purpose of preventing t e seams overlap providedwith reduced ping as such arconstructionwould provide toc great athickness of the fabric making the ball dead at thatpoint. When each ofthe sections of the l'eatherncasing has thus been lined, as abovedescribed,'the sections are sewed together along their edges asillustrated. in Fig. 8, thus forming a complete ballsuch'as Shown inFig. l, after which the inflatable bladder' may be placedtherein andinflated. y

By constructing a ball asabove described,

`the stretchfof the casing will be equalized as nearas is possible, .thewarp threads of the two layers of lining' being located at in form andconstruction may be made, as

circumstances require or experience suggests, iso

withoutdeparting from the spirit ofthe invention, within the `scope ofthe appended Y claims.

I claim 1. In an inflatable ball, the combination. with an outer casingand an inflatable bladder within said casmg of alining for said casingcompr1s1ng two 'layers of fabric, the

warp threads of one layer crossing the warp threads of the other layer.

2. In an inflatable ball, the combination with an outer casing formed ofa plurality of sections, the seamed edges of which are turned inward,vand an inflatable bladder within said casing, of a lining for each ofsaid sections 0f said casing, said lining comprising two layers offabric connected to eachother and to the section ofthe casing, the edgesof one of said layers of fabric being turned inwardly upon the face ofthe fabric for-nung a seam, the warpthreads' of one layer crossing thewarp threads 'of the other layer.v

In testimony that I claim the above, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JAMES L. BEEBOUTQ

